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Published on: December 15, 2023
Association between bullying behavior, perceived school safety, and self-cutting: a Japanese population-based school
Shoko Hamada1, Hitoshi Kaneko2, Masayoshi Ogura3
1Department of Psycho-Social Studies, School of Arts and Letters, Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan.
Background:
No previous population-based studies have examined associations between self-cutting, perceived school safety, and bullying behavior among East Asian adolescents.
Method:
We examined whether bullying, victimization, and perceived school safety were associated with self-cutting by getting 1865 students with a mean age of 13.9 years (standard deviation 0.2 years) to complete questions on these variables. Psychiatric problems were assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.
Results:
About 5.6% of males and 11.9% females had practiced self-cutting and when we controlled these results for psychiatric symptoms, self-cutting was associated with being both a bully and a victim among males and females. In addition, self-cutting was independently associated with perceived school safety among females. Those who felt unsafe at school and were victimized were much more likely to engage in self-cutting.
Conclusions:
Self-cutting among Japanese adolescents was linked with bullying behavior and feeling unsafe at school. Secure school environments and school-based antibullying programs could help to prevent adolescent self-injurious behavior.
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